Unsigned band focus – (The?) Man Mades
Type www.myspace.com/manmades into your browser and behold as an ocean of crap materialises on the screen before you. Poorly presented, the site consists of a basic azure wash, dotted on which are a few rambled scribblings about the five member group, making very little grammatical sense (and even less literal sense)
As if this shameful attempt at self promotion isn’t enough to send you flicking back to Asian pornography, the music player itself is over ridden with inadequately recorded, melody lacking numbers guaranteed to terminate any relationship you may once have had with this Manchester-based Funk group.
Why is this surprising? Because unlike the majority of Myspace’s music spewing drivel, Man Mades are one of the most unconventional, electrifying and, above all, talented acts Manchester has birthed in the last six months. Shades, afros and explosive stage personas emulsify into an utterly authentic unsigned dream, characterised by one defining phrase: pure, unparalleled funk.
Cornered in the dark and dusty backroom of cafe bar Trof, the group begin revealing the preliminary initiatives behind their unconventional style. Akin to their addictive music, Man Mades succeed in portraying their audience-stimulating style by dancing amongst the members. While the average band will accentuate their performance by perhaps swaying along to the drum beat, lead singers Reese and Dean Fagan go all out with moon walking, body popping and brilliantly constructed choreography rivalling Michael Jackson himself. Reese elaborates: “It’s all about feeling the music. Me and my brother and my cousin used to mess about when we were growing up, watching Michael Jackson on TV and attempting to mimic him, sadly, I couldn’t sing very well so I just used to dance like crazy. I suppose watching music videos was basically my dance training.”
Brother Dean, cuts in “Some of our moves are rehearsed and some are completely spontaneous.” Oddly enough the music is all written by drummer Matthew Rushton. Allegedly Mathew’s song writing influences are all drawn from life, the universe and everything: “I just wake up in the middle of the night with a tune in my head. Dreams, friendships, everything just gets soaked in.” Even cocky bassist, Dale is fully equipped with quirky characteristics, further separating the man mades from regular rock and roll. Dale’s fingers almost bound off the bass guitar at a scarily rapid speed while miraculously not catching fire…
Akin to all these quirks the group are unsure of the bands official name: “Are we The Man Mades? Or just Man Mades?” newbie guitarist Jules asks “Because if we go onstage and say ‘Hi, we are man made…aren’t people going to think we’re just stating a fact?”
Ignore the false image of mediocre-ism the band’s website is for some reason projecting. Man Mades are funky, fresh and fun, and above all, not to be missed on any circumstances.